Dec 18, 2013
- Remember to winterize irrigation systems before the heavy freezes start. If you have a “frost free” faucet attached to the wall of your house, make sure to disconnect any hoses from it, especially those with a pressure nozzle attached. The mechanism is inside the house wall, and the stretch between the mechanism and the actual faucet is prone to bursting in cold weather if water cannot drain from it. The same applies to “splitters” or Y connectors – either remove completely or make sure that the nozzles are in the open position.
- If you banded trees with Tanglefoot for insect control, remove the bands for the winter.
- Check any plant ties to make sure that they have not become too tight over the summer and loosen or reapply as necessary.
- If you did not harvest bush or climbing beans when fresh, leave them to dry on the vines and then harvest them as dry beans for use in soups. Put them in the freezer for a couple of days after shelling them to kill off any bugs.
- If you are planning to use straw mulch over the winter, make sure that you buy straw and not hay. Hay contains seeds of grasses, oats or alfalfa and although these are nutritious for stock they will rapidly grow in the garden – and who needs all that weeding?
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